12 Incredible Facts About Tigers

  

The four stripes on a tiger's forehead are said to form the character for wang, 王 (Prince). Both the dragon and the tiger are symbols used in the 12-year Chinese zodiac. The dragon, or a dragon-like creature, exists in the mythology of practically every civilization.

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Tiger in Chinese culture

  

The tiger at Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Throughout Chinese history, the tiger has incited a sense of both awe and admiration: its prowess, its ferocity, its beauty, and the harmony of the opposites. The tiger is full of life and embodies the spirit and drive to achieve and make progress.

The tiger has been common in the southern and northeastern China and is revered by the Chinese as a creature with many symbolic attributes. Each direction of the compass is traditionally believed to be ruled by a mythical creature; the White Tiger is the ruler of the West. The tiger is also associated with autumn, when it comes down from the mountains into villages, and is personified by the constellation Orion, which is prominent in autumn. In Chinese astrology, the star Alpha of the Great Bear constellation gave birth to the first tiger. The tiger represents the masculine principle in nature and is king of all the animals, as shown by the four stripes on his forehead, which form the character Wang (王), or King.[1] The tiger is regarded as one of the four super-intelligent creatures, along with the dragon, phoenix and tortoise; for centuries, the four have been a major design motif in Chinese art.

In southern China, on the tiger's birthday, on the second moon in the lunar calendar, fixed in the Western calendar as March 6, women worship the White Tiger. They place paper images of the tiger in their homes to keep away rats and snakes and prevent quarrels. On this date, effigies of the tiger are also put in front of temple buildings for people to make offerings. The God of Wealth, the deified Marshal Chao Gongming (Chao Kungming), is depicted riding a black tiger and holding a silver ingot. The Chinese call an able general a "tiger general" and a brave soldier, a "tiger warrior".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_in_Chinese_culture